NEO and bitcoin are two cryptocurrencies which have risen to prominence since their inceptions. These coins possess some similarities, however, they also possess a number of important differences. Here is a closer look at the key similarities and differences between NEO and bitcoin.
Similarities
Popularity – Both NEO and Bitcoin are extremely popular. That is why both coins are in the top ten coins by overall market cap as of February 12th, 2018. NEO and bitcoin are joined in the top ten coins by ethereum, ripple, bitcoin cash, cardano, litecoin, stellar, eos, and iota. All of the coins in the top ten have developed strong support from cryptocurrency users.
Exponential growth – NEO and bitcoin have both seen periods of exponential growth. 2017, in particular, was a year that was tremendous growth for both cryptocurrencies. In 2017, bitcoin rose from having a price of around $1,000 per coin to having a price of almost $20,000 per coin in December 2017. NEO rose from having a price of just a few cents in 2017 to having a price of over $100 by the start of 2018. 2017 was a very strong year for both coins, and in fact, both NEO and bitcoin were some of the best investments that anyone could have made in 2017.
Limited quantity – There are only a certain amount of coins for both the NEO and bitcoin cryptocurrencies. For NEO, the limit is 100 million coins. For bitcoin, the limit is 21 million coins. So, there is a finite amount of both coins. This means that if more people become interested in cryptocurrencies, this scarcity could drive up the price for both coins significantly higher than their prices already are in early 2018.
Differences
Age – Although the entire cryptocurrency industry is new, bitcoin is significantly older than NEO, relatively speaking. Bitcoin was created in 2009, whereas NEO was created in 2014. Because of the fact that bitcoin was created five years before NEO was, it had a five-year head start over NEO and many other cryptocurrencies. This helped it benefit from the first-mover advantage, and to gain market share before many competitors even existed.
Overall market cap size – Despite the fact that both cryptocurrencies are in the top 10 for overall market cap size, bitcoin’s market cap is much larger than NEO’s. As of February 12th, 2018, the market cap for bitcoin is $149,160,858,393. The market cap for NEO on the same date is $7,318,805,000. This is a difference of more than $140 billion.
Creators – The creators of NEO are known. NEO was created by two Chinese developers: DA Hongfei and Erik Zhang. The creator of bitcoin is a complete mystery. This is because the person (or group of people) who created bitcoin used an alias. This alias is Satoshi Nakamoto. There have been many guesses as to who Satoshi Nakamoto might be. Some people speculated that it was Elon Musk, founder of Tesla, PayPal, and other major corporations. However, Musk has denied these claims, and the mystery of bitcoin’s creator lives on.
Function – Since 2009, when it was created, bitcoin has slowly become positioned as a long-term store of value, and a type of “digital gold.” It is the king of cryptocurrencies and it is the mark by which many other cryptocurrencies are judged. NEO, on the other hand, is designed to be both a cryptocurrency and as a platform for facilitating smart contracts and decentralized apps, or DApps. Technically, smart contracts can be facilitated with bitcoin, however, bitcoin is not known as the go-to platform for such contracts. NEO and ethereum have taken this role primarily.
Conclusion
NEO and bitcoin are similar in that they are both popular, have experienced exponential growth at times, and have a limited quantity. They are different in terms of age, overall market cap size, creators, and function. However, despite their differences, both NEO and bitcoin saw tremendous gains in 2017, and could potentially see them again in 2018.
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What is your outlook for NEO vs. Bitcoin? Let us know in the comments below!
Images courtesy of eToro, Shutterstock
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